Shanghai Becomes a Weekend Favourite for South Koreans as Visa Waivers Reshape Travel

From Seoul to Shanghai for the Weekend

Shanghai drew 1.37 million South Korean visitors in 2025, according to South Korea's aviation information portal, as easier entry rules helped turn the Chinese city into a destination for quick weekend escapes. The figure rose 23.6 percent from 2024, while Shanghai's share of South Korean visits to mainland China increased from 35 percent to roughly 43 percent.

For Choi Yu-jin, a fashion designer aged 31 who lives in Seoul, the appeal comes down to value, clean streets and memorable food. She has visited Shanghai three times since 2024 and has another trip planned for April 2026. Her repeat visits reflect a wider change among young South Koreans, who increasingly fit an international holiday into the space between leaving work on Friday and returning the following week.

The trend has acquired a name: "Friday after work to China." Travellers from Generation Z and the millennial generation are embracing what is described as "special forces" tourism, packing sightseeing, meals and shopping into about 48 hours. Shanghai's proximity makes that possible; China's removal of visa requirements makes it easier to arrange.

The aviation portal's figures show the scale of the change. South Korean visitors to Shanghai increased from approximately 570,000 in 2023 to 1.1 million in 2024, before reaching 1.37 million in 2025. For hotels, restaurants, airlines and shops, those repeated short visits create demand beyond the traditional annual holiday.

China began its visa exemption for South Koreans in November 2024, initially allowing stays of 15 days before expanding the allowance to 30 days. The policy now runs through December 31, 2026, giving travellers a longer window to plan both spontaneous weekends and repeat visits.

What the Entry Rules Allow

South Korean passport holders can use China's unilateral visa waiver for tourism, business, family visits and transit. Unilateral means China introduced the exemption on its own, without requiring South Korea to introduce an identical arrangement. Eligible travellers can enter without the visa paperwork, fees and waiting periods that previously complicated planning.

China introduced the measure as it emerged from pandemic isolation and sought to rebuild international tourism, support the economy and improve its image abroad. South Korea joined nearly 40 countries benefiting from exemptions, including France, Germany, Australia, Japan and Malaysia.

The 30 day allowance also simplifies travel compared with the existing transit arrangements described for South Korean visitors. Those options allow stays of 72 or 144 hours through 38 ports across 18 provinces, but require onward travel to a third country. The broader waiver removes that onward ticket requirement, making a straightforward Seoul to Shanghai return trip easier.

South Korea has introduced its own temporary arrangement for Chinese visitors. From September 29, 2025, through June 30, 2026, Chinese nationals travelling in groups of at least three can enter without visas for stays of up to 15 days. Jeju Island already has a longstanding exemption allowing individual Chinese travellers to stay for 30 days.

The two countries' arrangements serve the same broad purpose of encouraging travel, but their conditions differ. China's exemption covers eligible South Korean passport holders individually; South Korea's temporary mainland arrangement is directed at Chinese tour groups.

• May 2024: China introduced a visa exemption allowing eligible organised cruise groups to stay for 15 days.
• November 2024: China began visa exemption for South Koreans, initially allowing 15 days before expanding stays to 30 days.
• September 29, 2025: South Korea's temporary exemption for Chinese groups began.
• June 30, 2026: South Korea's temporary group arrangement is scheduled to end.
• December 31, 2026: China's extended exemption for South Koreans is scheduled to end.

Why Shanghai Leads the Travel Surge

Shanghai welcomed 4.56 million foreign visitors in 2024, twice the previous year's figure, with South Koreans the largest nationality group. Between January and September 2025, the city recorded 619,800 Korean visitors, an increase of 121.1 percent from the same period in 2024. The aviation portal separately lists 1.37 million South Korean visitors to Shanghai for the full year of 2025.

Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu also feature in Korean travel plans, but Shanghai combines a short journey with frequent flights. The flight from Seoul takes about 90 minutes, shorter than many domestic Korean routes. That leaves more of a brief weekend available for the destination itself.

Korean Air reported that its Seoul to Shanghai routes were operating at 86 percent of capacity before the pandemic by late 2025. Passenger load factors exceeded 88 percent in the fourth quarter. A load factor measures how many available seats are occupied, so that figure means more than 88 out of every 100 seats were filled.

Airlines have responded to demand by restoring flight frequencies seen before COVID-19. More departures give travellers greater freedom to leave after work, choose a convenient return time and book a short trip without using much annual leave.

Choi's enthusiasm also reflects the attractions visitors encounter after landing. Korean travellers frequently praise Shanghai's clean streets, efficient public transport and relatively affordable dining at expensive restaurants. A meal at an upscale Shanghai restaurant can cost considerably less than a comparable experience in Seoul, while still delivering the quality and atmosphere they seek.

Young professionals can therefore combine a short flight with experiences that might stretch their budgets more at home. Shanghai's appeal rests on that combination of access and value, rather than distance alone.

Food Trends Help Choose the Itinerary

Food is a major reason for the journey. Mala, the numbing and spicy Sichuan seasoning that has become popular in South Korea over the past decade, gives Korean visitors a familiar starting point for exploring Shanghai's varied restaurants.

Haidilao's business in South Korea shows how Chinese dining habits have travelled across the Yellow Sea. By late 2025, the hot pot chain projected annual Korean sales above 100 billion won, approximately $68 million, compared with 78 billion won the previous year. Familiarity with hot pot at home can encourage visitors to seek related dining experiences in China.

Shanghai's bakeries have also become stops on itineraries shaped by online food videos. The towel cake, a soft roll cake resembling folded towels, has attracted attention through mukbang videos and Instagram posts. Mukbang videos centre on people eating, often turning a particular dish into something viewers want to try themselves.

Cafes, street food and restaurants open late provide other opportunities for visitors who want to fit several meals and social outings into a short stay. For travellers interested in both taste and presentation, a bakery visit or cafe stop can become as important as a famous landmark.

Social Media Changes How China Looks

YouTube carries more than 7,500 videos tagged "Shanghai travel," while Instagram hosts over 171,000 posts under the same hashtag. Hotel reviews, food tours and shopping videos give prospective visitors detailed pictures of how they might spend a weekend.

Korean influencers such as Jang Su-seok reach millions of viewers through livestreams of factory tours and food adventures across China. Their content introduces destinations to people who might previously have given them little thought.

Kim Sae-mee, a Seoul resident aged 29 who is planning her first Shanghai visit, described how those images have changed her view of the country:

My perception of China has definitely shifted. From what I have seen on social media, it has become more positive, culturally interesting.

Images circulating on Korean feeds show fashionable residents beside Shanghai's Art Deco buildings, electric vehicles on streets lined with trees and views of the skyline from the Bund. Together, they present an urban experience that appeals to travellers seeking food, architecture, shopping and places to photograph.

Instagram's role comes with an unusual complication: the platform is blocked in China. Visitors still photograph themselves at the Oriental Pearl Tower, Yu Garden and other popular locations, but many use VPN services or wait until they return home to publish their pictures. A VPN routes an internet connection through another network.

Posting later has made Instagram more of a travel diary for some visitors than a means of sharing every moment as it happens. The restriction has added friction without stopping the flow of photographs that inspires the next group of travellers.

Chinese Visitors Make the Journey the Other Way

Chinese tourism to South Korea is growing alongside Korean travel to Shanghai. During China's October Golden Week holiday, increased group travel brought Mandarin conversations to South Korean city centres. The travel platform Tuniu recorded growth of more than 60 percent in group travel to South Korea compared with September 2024 figures.

Seoul set a target of attracting 5.36 million Chinese tourists in 2025, moving towards the 6.02 million recorded in 2019, before the pandemic. The target was 660,000 below that earlier total, showing how much recovery was still being sought.

The Bank of Korea estimates that an additional million Chinese visitors could add 0.08 percentage points to South Korea's GDP growth. GDP measures the value of goods and services produced in an economy. The estimate concerns an increase in the growth rate, reflecting spending that reaches businesses such as hotels, shops and transport operators.

Tourism contributes more than 5 percent to South Korea's economy, making visitor spending valuable at a time of weak domestic consumption. Young Chinese visitors head to Gangnam to see locations associated with Korean dramas, while older travellers seek traditional experiences, including dim sum in historic tea houses.

Duty free shops at Incheon Airport have reported a 45 percent annual increase in sales to Chinese nationals. Cruise traffic is also expected to grow: arrivals at Busan port are projected to rise from eight visits in 2025 to 173 scheduled calls in 2026.

Cruise Ships Expand the Exchange

Shanghai's ports handled 538 inbound and outbound cruise calls in 2025, up 16.2 percent from the previous year. A cruise call is a ship's visit to a port, rather than a count of individual tourists. The growth adds a maritime route to the expanding exchange already visible at airports.

Lianyungang port in Jiangsu province received 255 South Korean tourists in December 2025, its largest single Korean group since the visa waiver began. For ports beyond Shanghai, organised groups offer another way to attract visitors who can continue to other destinations after arrival.

China's cruise exemption, introduced in May 2024, allows organised groups to enter through any of 13 seaports for stays of up to 15 days. The arrangement permits onward travel to inland destinations, including Beijing and Shanghai.

Port authorities have introduced dedicated electronic immigration kiosks and passenger lists filed before arrival. These procedures reduce clearance times for large groups to under 45 minutes, helping passengers spend more of a short port visit sightseeing rather than waiting.

Shanghai's Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal recorded its first simultaneous berthing of two ships in 2026 in late January. The returning MSC Bellissima docked alongside Adora Magic City, the cruise ship built in China, reflecting the infrastructure supporting the sector's expansion.

More than 98 percent of international cruise passengers now use visa exemption arrangements on arrival. Shanghai's cruise terminals handled more than 120,000 foreign passenger trips in 2025, an increase of 82.6 percent from the previous year.

The Digital Obstacles After Arrival

South Korean visitors encounter a different online environment once they reach China. KakaoTalk, WhatsApp, Google Maps and YouTube are among the familiar services blocked by China's internet restrictions. That affects communication, navigation and the ability to access the videos that helped inspire a trip.

Travellers often need Chinese alternatives to arrange taxis, find their way around or make payments. English translations can be awkward, making an otherwise simple task more difficult for someone visiting for only a weekend.

Alipay and WeChat Pay dominate daily commerce in Chinese cities, where cash and credit cards have become increasingly uncommon in everyday transactions. Both platforms now accept some overseas credit cards, but registration requires verification of the user's identity, a process that can confuse foreign visitors.

Tour guides increasingly advise visitors to download payment applications before arrival and prepare for transactions that work differently from those at home. Setting up an account in advance leaves less to solve when ordering a meal or paying for transport.

Restaurant workers use translation applications to help Korean customers understand menus and digital queuing systems. Bilingual volunteers at major ports and tourist sites also help visitors communicate. For many younger travellers, working through these unfamiliar systems has become part of the experience rather than a reason to stay away.

Where the Visitor Spending Goes

The Korea-China Business Council estimates that a tourist from either country spends an average of $1,120 per trip, 17 percent more than in 2019. That money reaches accommodation providers, restaurants, transport networks and retailers in the cities receiving visitors.

China's growing Korean market also helps compensate for a slower recovery in some other international travel markets. Flights to Europe and the United Kingdom have surpassed levels before the pandemic, while connections between China and North America remain weaker amid geopolitical complications, including closed Russian airspace.

South Korean travellers provide a nearby source of recurring demand. A visitor who returns several times, as Choi has done, can support hotels and restaurants across different weekends rather than through a single long holiday.

The economic benefits extend in both directions. China's cities gain spending from Korean travellers, while South Korean businesses receive Chinese customers under the temporary group exemption. Both governments are using tourism to support economic recovery and diplomatic engagement.

Business Travel Also Becomes Easier

Business travellers report that airlines now accept visa exemption arrangements during online check in without requiring additional document uploads. Tour operators can confirm group trips within 24 hours, reducing the time needed to organise a visit.

Korean suppliers can travel to meet Chinese partners without lengthy visa paperwork delays. Chinese technicians travelling to South Korea also benefit from streamlined waivers of visa fees. These measures make work related travel easier alongside leisure visits.

Industry analysts view the arrangements as trials that could encourage wider regional changes. If the China and South Korea experiment retains political and economic support, observers expect Japan and potentially ASEAN partners to seek similar reciprocity with Beijing, possibly reshaping travel in Northeast Asia by 2027. ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Both governments currently treat the arrangements as temporary pilot programmes. Officials have privately suggested that extensions are likely if visitor spending continues to meet expectations, but further extensions have not been decided. The scheduled deadlines remain June 30, 2026, for South Korea's Chinese group exemption and December 31, 2026, for China's exemption covering South Koreans.

For travellers such as Choi, the immediate result is practical: Shanghai is easier to visit repeatedly, with short flights, attractive food and fewer entry formalities. For businesses on both sides of the Yellow Sea, the opportunity lies in turning those easier journeys into sustained demand.

Key Points

• South Korea's aviation information portal lists 1.37 million Korean visitors to Shanghai in 2025, up 23.6 percent from 2024.
• Shanghai accounted for roughly 43 percent of South Korean visits to mainland China, compared with 35 percent the previous year.
• China's exemption began in November 2024 with stays of 15 days, later expanded to 30 days, and now runs through December 31, 2026.
• Shanghai recorded 619,800 Korean visitors from January through September 2025, up 121.1 percent from the same period in 2024.
• Flights of about 90 minutes, food trends and social media have helped popularise compressed weekend trips from Seoul.
• South Korea allows eligible Chinese groups of at least three to visit for up to 15 days without visas through June 30, 2026.
• Shanghai handled 538 cruise calls and more than 120,000 foreign cruise passenger trips in 2025.
• Internet restrictions, unfamiliar payment applications and language barriers remain practical challenges for visitors.
• The Korea-China Business Council puts average spending at $1,120 per trip, while the Bank of Korea estimates a growth boost of 0.08 percentage points for each additional million Chinese visitors.